Changing Seasons

I am a mama who craves the moderate seasons in life. The warm breeze of a new spring morning after months of chill and snow. The cool breeze of an autumn afternoon, leaves crunching underfoot and sunlight falling gently after months of sweat and heat.

It’s not the change of seasons that I desire – this year has been full of far too many changes for our family already. But the sense of something new, something peaceful. A return to routine and less extreme days as my husband returns to teaching at the elementary school I attended as a child. It takes a few weeks, but we settle in. Our daughter starts to adjust to both of us leaving for work as she’s dropped off at daycare.

We start to dream and make plans. No longer focused on teaching our girl how to swim or planning for the beach, we’re now looking at weekends for apple picking, football games, campfires and cookouts. Maybe a hike through the woods, fall colors and smells delighting the senses as we relax and breath deeply the coolness of the season, introducing our little girl to the beauty of autumn.

My heart dreams of slow mornings over coffee with good friends. Joining with another mama over a pumpkin-spice latte on a brisk Saturday. We’ll meet at the coffee shop and talk into the morning about how these seasons – they change us. I’ll share with you how much I love fall and what it means to my life. How all the amazing moments in our family started in this season – dating my husband, getting married, the birth of our daughter.

But this season is also one that has touched my heart deeply, the way the Lord has caused what seems good and wonderful to die off during these same months. To be stripped away, desires of my heart drying, changing, falling away like those beautiful leaves on the trees that line my drive to my new job. It is a beautiful death, but a dying all the same. A necessary process that requires my heart to prepare for the cold months, the ones where I need to dig deep down into the ground, to be rooted firmly in God so that when winter comes, the dying is temporary and the hope for spring and new life remains.

…whatever God does, that’s the way it’s going to be, always. No addition, no subtraction. God’s done it and that’s it. That’s so we’ll quit asking questions and simply worship in holy fear.

Crystal’s heart is to encourage women through the written word. She is a toddler mama dedicated to her family, pursuing God Sized Dreams. Crystal is the Editorial & Marketing Manager for incourage.me and you can find her writing at crystalstine.me. Follow her on Twitter at @CrystalStine.

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